Tyson Fury has officially confirmed that his boxing retirement is over and he is coming back to fight again.
The two-time world heavyweight champion has not been out since suffering the second of back-to-back losses at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk in December 2024. He announced his retirement shortly after that bout in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Throughout the second half of 2025 Fury had teased a potential return to the ring in several social media posts, and finally on Sunday he made the news official in a post on Instagram.
READ MORE: The latest heavyweight boxing rankings – the top 10 best big men today
‘The Gypsy King’ said: “2026 is that year Return of the mac. Been away for a while but I’m back now, 37 years old and still punching,” Fury wrote. “Nothing better to do than punch men in the face & get paid for it.”
Fury (34-2-1) has already made one hugely successful comeback in his career – returning to become heavyweight king for a second time in early 2020 after at one time ballooning to 400lbs and suffering mental health challenges.
This time things are different, the 37-year-old Morecambe man appears very happy and fulfilled in his life outside the ropes with a beautiful family (wife Paris and their seven children) and financially set for life.
Fury vs Joshua lined up for 2026
Fury’s return is expected to pave the way for that long-awaited all-British blockbuster vs Anthony Joshua. The two-time heavyweight champs have been dancing for at least five years now with their long expected fight coming close to happening on more than one occasion.
Back in 2021 the two men actually did confirm a two-fight deal before Deontay Wilder scuppered the whole thing by winning an arbitration ruling to force a trilogy match with Fury.
Now it appears Fury vs Joshua is very much in the works for later in 2026 – potentially at London’s Wembley Stadium in September. The plan was for both men to have fights early in the year to prepare for that superfight.
Joshua recovering from tragic crash
Right now though, speaking about boxing and Joshua in the same sentence appears pretty disrespectful given what AJ went through last week – he suffered minor injuries last week in a Nigeria car crash which killed two of his closest friends and team members. He is still mourning the losses of strength and conditioning coach Sina Ghami and personal trainer Latif Ayodele.
Joshua had a potential February 14 date in place with talk he would engage in another crossover affair following his defeat of Jake Paul – this time vs kickboxing king Rico Verhoeven. That would appear highly unlikely after last week’s events.
A Fury vs Joshua showdown would not involve any titles at this stage with both men out of the belts picture. But it would likely earn both of them at least £100million each.
The aforementioned Usyk remains unbeaten and unchallenged as yet at the top of the heavyweight mountain. He still holds the WBC, WBA and IBF belts after vacating the WBO title recently. That strap is held by fairytale Brit Fabio Wardley.
As of now, Fury holds no titles. He lost the WBC world heavyweight title in his first fight vs Oleksandr Usyk in Riyadh in May 2024 by the closest of split decisions.
His last outing was that second loss to Usyk – via unanimous decision – in Riyadh in December 2024.
